Dozens Camping Out for Opening of St. Cloud Chick-Fil-A

ST. CLOUD - The parking lot in front of the new St. Cloud Chick-fil-A is lined with colorful tents and lawn chairs.

Dozens of people are camping out waiting for the doors of the new restaurant to open on Thursday morning. The first 100 people in line on opening day win 52 free Chick fil-A meals for a year. The St. Cloud Chick fil-A officially opens at 6:00 a.m. Thursday.

Scott Middendorf was the first in line for the new St. Cloud Chick-fil-A. (Dan DeBaun, WJON)

Through rock paper scissors tournaments, bean bag toss, and other activities: those in line are doing all they can to entertain themselves. Scott Middendorf was the first person in line a little before 3:00 a.m. Wednesday. He says he had a new tent ready for the occasion

"It's the first time this tent has been set up. I had bought the tent to go camping this summer and ended up never using it. So when I decided to come out here I knew I would need a tent in case it rained."

After Scott, the other first dozen people started lining up shortly after 5:00 a.m. Inside, employees are hard at work getting prepared and putting the finishing touches on the restaurant. The building has an indoor kids playground area.

The St. Cloud Chick-fil-A is in the Crossroads Center Parking lot area (4185 West Division Street), where the old Pizza Hut building used to be.

Chick-fil-A is a fast food restaurant based in Atlanta, specializing in chicken sandwiches. They have over 2,000 restaurants in 42 states.